The auction house has described the Song Dynasty artwork created by Su as "one of the world's rarest Chinese paintings".

Entitled "Wood and Rock", the ink-on-paper handscroll depicts a dragon-like old tree with withered branches and a sharp rock resting at its root.

The painting was the most expensive item ever sold in Christie's Asia, it said.

Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, is one of the most important cultural figures in Chinese history and was an esteemed scholar, poet, prose-writer, painter, calligrapher and statesman.

The 185.5cm-long scroll is inscribed with calligraphy and the poems of four important literati of the 11th century in China, and also exhibits the seals of 41 collectors.

"The number of the works securely attributed to him are very few, probably only two or three. They are extremely rare," Jonathan Stone, deputy chairman for Christie's Asian art department, said in an earlier preview.

In 2010, "Dizhuming", a Chinese calligraphy scroll by Huang Tingjian -- Su Shi's student -- sold for $64 million at Poly Auction in Beijing.
Hong Kong's auction houses have seen frenzied bidding among Asian buyers in recent years, with sales of diamonds, paintings and ancient ceramics shattering world records.

Scribbles, Scratches And Other Abstract Pieces Of Art That Made Millions

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World Of Abstracts

10 Aug, 2018

Who says a scribble or a scratch is worthless? Check out these abstracts which sold for a fortune thanks to their minimalistic allure.

Untitled (1970) by Cy Twombly

10 Aug, 2018

Cost: $70.5 million
What seems like chalk scribbles on a slate is actually an oil-based house paint and crayon artwork on canvas by Edwin Parker ‘Cy’ Twombly Jr, which fetched a record price for the artist in Christie’s 2014 sale. Part of Twombly’s ‘blackboard’ paintings, the 1970 artwork is inspired by his stint in Pentagon as a cryptologist. What’s interesting is the way he produced this artwork. He sat on the shoulders of a friend, who kept on walking along the length of the canvas, enabling Twombly to create fluid lines. The painting’s then owner, Audrey Irmas, a philanthropist, parted with the painting to raise funds for her foundation for social justice. Interestingly, Irmas bought the painting for $3.85 million in 1990.
(Image: www.christies.com)

Green White by Ellsworth Kelly

10 Aug, 2018

Cost: $1.65 million
Once part of the Robert and Jean Shoenberg collection, this 1961 artwork came into the market at Christie’s 2008 sale. Kelly was a camouflage artist during his stint in the army in the 1940s. He was a part of the unit known as ‘the Ghost army’ comprising artists and designers who painted objects that would misdirect enemy soldiers.
(Image: www.christies.com)

'Orange, Red, Yellow' by Mark Rothko

10 Aug, 2018

Cost: $86.88 million (including buyer’s premium)
The vibrant orange, red and yellow coloured rectangles was part of art collector David Pincus’s estate and was brought to the market by Christie’s in 2012 where its sale set the record for post war/ contemporary art at the time. Rothko’s 1961 work was in Pincus’s possession for four-and-a-half decades. The final bid was double the highest estimate of the artwork.
(Image: www.markrothko.org)

'Concetto Spaziale, Attese' by Lucio Fontana

10 Aug, 2018

Cost: $16.2 million
The 24 sharp vertical tears on a crimson, water-painted seven- foot wide canvas was contested for about a minute and 30 seconds during Sotheby’s 2015 auction. Yet, the painting was sold below the low presale estimate of $15 million. Turns out, Fontana was inspired to paint this artwork watching Red Desert, a 1964 movie created by Michelangelo Antonioni, which won the Golden Lion in that year’s Venice Film Festival. In fact, the inscription on the back of the painting, in Italian, reads, “I returned yesterday from Venice, I saw Antonioni’s film!!!”
(Image: www.sothebys.com)

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